Free The Pirates and the Nightmaker by James Norcliffe Page A

foolhardy. I did not know the complement of the
Medusa
, but even though the ship would not be so well-manned as a navy vessel there could well have been more than thirty on board outnumbering the potential mutineers by five to one.
    ‘Not enough yet,’ murmured Captain Lightower.
    ‘What do you mean “yet”, sir?’
    ‘I mean that it’s possible some of this Blade woman’s men could be persuaded to join us …’
    ‘Persuaded?’
    ‘They could be offered a king’s pardon for coming to the aid of king’s officers,’ said Captain Lightower. ‘That couldwell be a more attractive proposition than hanging by the neck, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘We would need to be sure of them.’
    ‘Of course we would. We should not act impulsively, but only when we are sure of our numbers. This means that we should talk quietly to our men at the earliest opportunity. We must impress on them the importance of caution and circumspection else we would be given away before we’ve begun.’
    ‘Agreed.’
    ‘We must trust the men to gain the confidence of their new shipmates and then quietly, gradually, sound them out and only when sure make our offer.’
    ‘This could take time.’
    ‘I think, Dr Hatch, that with no wind in the offing, time is the one commodity we have more than enough of.’
    I had heard enough and backed away. Mutiny was certainly on their minds. This knowledge placed me in a difficult situation. While flying in the darkness I had questioned myself whether I could trust Sophie Blade, whether I could be sure of her loyalty. But where now did my loyalties lie? To Captain Lightower, who surely was still my captain? Or to Sophie Blade, my new friend whose mother’s ship was threatened by the captain’s possible uprising, but whose mother, according to Mr Wicker, had cast us away in the jolly-boat in the first place? And, with a sinking heart, I remembered that there was yet a third conflict of loyalty, for I now had a new master to whom I was beholden. Should I impart this important information first of all to Mr Wicker,or should I hide it from him? This last question, of course, presumed that I
could
hide it from him. I was beginning to fear that I could hide nothing from Mr Wicker, that his control over me was complete, body and soul.
    While I was pondering these dilemmas, Captain Lightower and Dr Hatch detached themselves from the shadows in the prow of the vessel and returned along the deck, I presumed to retire for the night. I remained standing where I was, still considering the problem, until they had disappeared.
    And then, once they were out of sight and hearing, my problems were resolved. There was a sudden noise and I turned to find Sophie Blade standing right beside me. She had jumped from a hatch cover where she had been hiding in order to listen to the conversation of the officers from the
Firefly
.
    ‘Good evening, Loblolly Boy,’ she greeted me. ‘Have you been hearing what I’ve been hearing?’
    ‘I cannot deny it,’ I said.
    ‘My mother was right not to trust those men,’ Sophie said.
    ‘I think what they are planning is foolish,’ I said carefully.
    Sophie laughed. ‘Foolish? There is not a man among my mother’s crew would rather not die than betray her. If any of those fools think they could bribe them to treachery, they would be thrown to the sharks before they could catch breath!’
    ‘What will you do?’ I asked her.
    ‘Report to my mother, of course,’ said Sophie airily. ‘I was, after all, spying on those two on her express orders.’
    ‘And what will she do?’
    ‘You are curious, this evening,’ said Sophie. ‘I could well ask what will you do?’
    I shrugged in the darkness. ‘What
can
I do?’ I replied. ‘After all, I can talk to no one except you and Mr Wicker. And there is no love lost between Mr Wicker and Captain Lightower.’
    ‘You can be trusted then,’ said Sophie, ‘by nature if not by choice.’
    ‘But your mother?’
    ‘My mother?’ resumed